. They were caught in a trap and cut to pieces. It is quite
extraordinary how all a Sarmatian's courage is, so to speak, outside
himself. Fighting on foot, no one is more cowardly; but their cavalry
charge would break almost any troops. On this occasion it was raining
and the ground was greasy with thaw; their pikes and their long
swords, needing both hands to wield, were useless; their horses
slipped and they were encumbered by the heavy coat of mail which all
their chiefs and nobles wear. Being made of iron plates and a very
hard kind of leather, it is impenetrable to blows, but most
inconvenient for any one who is knocked down by a charge of the enemy
and tries to get up. Besides, they sank into the deep, soft snow. The
Roman soldiers in their neat leather jerkins, armed with javelin and
lance, and using, if need be, their light swords, sprang on the
unarmed Sarmatians (they never carry shields) and stabbed them at
close quarters. A few, surviving the battle, hid themselves in the
marshes, and there perished miserably from the severity of the winter
and their wounds. When the news of this reached Rome, Marcus Aponius,
the governor of Moesia, was granted a triumphal statue,[177] while the
commanding officers of the legions, Fulvius Aurelius, Tettius
Julianus, and Numisius Lupus, received the insignia of consular rank.
Otho was delighted and took all the credit to himself, as if he had
been the successful general, and had himself employed his officers and
armies to enlarge the empire.

In the meantime a riot broke out in an unexpected quarter, and, 80
though trivial at first, nearly ended in the destruction of Rome. Otho
had given orders that the Seventeenth cohort[178] should be summoned
from the colony of Ostia to the city, and Varius Crispinus, a tribune
of the guards, was instructed to provide them with arms. Anxious to
carry out his instructions undisturbed while the camp was quiet, he
arranged that the arsenal was to be opened and the cohort's wagons
loaded after nightfall. The hour aroused suspicion; the motive was
questioned; his choice of a quiet moment resulted in an uproar. The
mere sight of swords made the drunken soldiers long to use them. They
began to murmur and accuse their officers of treachery, suggesting
that the senators' slaves were going to be armed against Otho. Some of
them were too fuddled to know what they were saying: the rascals saw
a chance of plunder: the mass of them, as usual, we